THE Prince of Wales yesterday abandoned plans to marry at Windsor Castle after discovering that it would pave the way for weddings of commoners in the Queen’s favourite royal residence.
Clarence House announced instead that the ceremony will now take place at the Sir Christopher Wren-designed Guildhall in Windsor town centre.
The move is expected to trigger a massive and expensive security operation and end all hopes of the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles for a discreet and low key marriage.
The change was ordered after royal officials discovered that the licence permitting a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle would run for three years, making it one of the most sought after marriage venues in the land.
The Royal Family would also have had to invest hundreds of thousands of pounds for the installation of wheelchair ramps, bigger lavatories and specially-made lifts to make the building disabled friendly to comply with the 1994 Marriages Act which enables weddings in public buildings.
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The official version however, according to Clarence House last night, was that the new venue would enable the public to see the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles arrive and depart from the Guildhall.
But the statement was at odds with the original professed wish of the couple to have the minimum public fuss. One senior Royal official told The Times: “There were a number of issues. The crucial fact though was the prospect of disruption to the castle over the subsequent three years with applications for civil marriage ceremonies.
“Windsor Castle is the venue for many state banquets and state visits and it is also an official residence of the Queen. Nearly one million people visit the castle each year. Taking all that into consideration we decided not to go ahead with the Windsor Castle idea.”
Marriage within the precincts of Windsor Castle would have removed a number of security issues for the Metropolitan Police who guard the building.
But now the ceremony has moved outside, albeit only 100 yards from the castle’s ramparts, the local Thames Valley Police force will have to take over.
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The town centre will be effectively shut down, roads closed to traffic, police dogs will have to be sent in to look for explosives and the movement of people will be severely restricted. The cost of policing the wedding will be borne by local council tax payers.
After the civil ceremony the Service of Prayer and Dedication, which will be presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury, will go ahead at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
It will be attended by around 700 guests — a much bigger figure than had originally been anticipated when Clarence House talked about close family and friends.
The Queen will give a reception in the State Apartments at Windsor Castle.
Afterwards, The Prince of Wales and the new Duchess of Cornwall will leave Windsor for Scotland.
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A spokeswoman for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead said that the Prince’s staff at Clarence House had made a number of calls to the council about what would be required to register Windsor Castle for the wedding ceremony. “However, no formal application was ever received,” she added.
No other wedding had been scheduled for Friday, April 8.
It still is not clear whether the Prince’s wedding will be conducted by one of the council’s 11 qualified registrars.
As the wedding is being held on a Friday, and not the weekend, Prince Charles will pay the borough the cheapest rate for the hire of the building, £156 an hour. The average wedding lasts 20 minutes.
The 17th-century Guildhall acts as the local town hall.
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It is used as a court. for council and community meetings and civic dinners and its most recent addition was a stairlift.
The council chamber has a collection of royal paintings from the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Elizabeth II.
It also contains a portrait of the Queen, unveiled by her to mark her Golden Jubilee visit to Windsor in June 2002.
The building has become an extremely popular location for weddings since it was licensed in 1998, with the chamber accommodating up to 100 guests and the Ascot Room catering for smaller groups of up to 30. The Guildhall is available for weddings on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.